Bittersweet
by TheFadingMoon
Summary: "You use to be so sweet, Sugar! What happened to you? Now you're just bitter!"
1. Chapter 1

A new mother, with dark green eyes and a white pelt with black and orange splotches was curled up by a fire that her owner, an elderly woman named Susan, built. Curled up tight around the mother was a frail, only week old kitten. The kit was pure white, with a long, fluffy tail like her mother.

Fall, the calico mother, was hoping that the kit wouldn't look exactly like her father. The kit had her father's pelt, and hoped that the kit would have green eyes like her and not blue eyes like Chalk, who was Fall's mate. The reason of her hope was that Sugar wouldn't remind her of Chalk and bring upon sad memories.

Fall, thinking of her mate, let out a wistful sigh as she recollected her memories of him. She remembered when he asked her to be his mate. She remembered her scarlet blush as she agreed and he licked her lovingly. It was sunset, and she would always honor her mate and wait for him to come back.

She let her eyes cloud with self pity for a moment as her stomach growled. It was early in the morning, so she hadn't got up to eat yet. Fall was about to sit up to go eat some of the dry pellets Susan left her in her big metal bowl, but then she remembered the fluffy white kit curled up against her swelled stomach.

Her eyes cleared as she looked at the kit in awe, that was her one connection to Chalk. _She'll see her father eventually._ Normally, good fathers would come visit their kits and help name them with the mother, but Chalk walked a different path. Chalk had left his owners to go into the wild and explore. He told her he would visit, but he had yet to do so.

Fall turned her attention from Chalk to her kit for the second time that hour. Fall was only a bit worried her mate wouldn't come back, because he promised. What would she name her kit? Fall tried to recall what Chalk said his mother's name was. She remembered it had to do with Cake, but it wasn't right.

Some reason, Fall's mind kept going back to the name Cake, but she knew it wasn't Cake. It was... _What is it?_ Fall cried desperately in her mind. _Sugar! It's Sugar!_ Fall figured it out only a few minutes of aimlessly pondering.

Chalk had said that he wanted to name one of their daughters after his mother, but she only had one kit to name. She decided to honor his request and named the kit Sugar. Chalk hasn't seen his daughter yet, but Fall knew that he would love her unconditionally. He'd come back and visit her, like he promised. He had to, in Fall's mind, because of that promised. Promises meant something to Fall, and she clung to them.

Fall really loved that tom, as for the third time she was dragged into thoughts about him. She turned to look at the newly named Sugar as the kit let out a small mewl and placed her face into her mother's fluffy fur and started purring as loud as a frail kit could.

Fall turned to look outside from a window in the small cabin home to see the sun was rising. Filled with nostalgia, Fall realized that her owner must of filled up her food and water bowl with the same stale pellets and water like she did every day.

Fall picked up her kit, who just got very comfortable with her face in her mother's fur, and carried her over to the kitchen. The kitchen was attached to the main room, where her the two cats had a small nest in, a window, a small couch, and a TV.

Fall considered herself a scardy cat, as she realized she got scared or horrified at the simplest things. One of these simple things is an elderly woman forgetting to fill her food bowl. Fall also got confused and surprised often, which she guessed was a side effect of being a mother.

Fall pushed aside her shock and confusion a moment after staring into the empty food bowl. She tried to figure out why Susan would forget to fill it. Fall landed on the conclusion that, like cats, twolegs lost their memory as they grew older.

Sugar let out a small mew of hunger as soon as Fall trudged back to her nest, and followed was a chorus of mews from the small kit. Sugar slowly crawled towards her mother's stomach, and Fall suddenly felt worried. Was Fall suppose to start weaning her kit? Fall shook her head, that didn't make sense at Sugar's age.

Fall tried to remember back when she was a kit, and her mother started to wean her when she was one moon old. Fall cringed, wet spots in the corner of her eyes as she remembered her mother. She turned to focus on Sugar. The spots disappeared soon, as if they never existed.

Sugar kneaded her mother's rounded stomach as she drank the warm liquid. Sugar stopped when she was full, and dozed off almost immediately. Fall knew kits slept a lot, so she slipped Sugar off her paw and walked over to the fire, not very far away. If there was any danger, Fall would be able to grab her kit and run.

Sugar, however, had felt her mother gently pick her up and set her down farther away, and got up slowly. She seen her mother looking into the fireplace, thinking deeply. She mewled joyfully, and with her eyes still not open, raced towards her mother. Sugar was more hyper than when she was only a few seconds ago.

Sugar fell over once, and Fall was about to go pick up her daughter but she heard a mewl of defiance as the kit got up again and continued to race at her. Sugar ran over her mother's tail, but instead of just going over it, Sugar tripped again and landed on her mother.

Fall knew her daughter wasn't injured, so she let out a quiet croak and turned her head to pick up her daughter by the scruff and set her down next to her paw. _Is Sugar's eyes suppose to be open yet?_ After all, Sugar was a week old.

Fall perked her ears, which she did when she was deep in thought, and heard the quiet shuffling coming from the locked room. Susan was up! Fall was starting to hear her own stomach growl. Through the open door, Fall could see that Susan was bent over, panting as if she just ran a mile, and picked up the food bowl.

The owner placed the bowl in something, scooped it, and bent down slowly. She placed the food bowl, still panting, and gripped the water bowl forcefully. She got up and walked over to another part of the kitchen, towards the sink.

Halfway there, the twoleg's hands shook as Susan dropped the bowl. Despite it being empty, Fall could sense the annoyance and frustration in the air. Susan crouched down and picked up the bowl and muttered something extremely rude in twoleg language, just like a twoleg teenager would do.

Hesitantly, Fall picked up Sugar and carried the kit towards the food and water. Fall offered a purr directed at the pale, grey haired twoleg before digging into the food. Sugar sat there, her nose trying to smell everything within the area.

After eating all the food like a hungry pig, quickly and sloppily, Fall turned to the water and drank a small amount of it. Bending over to pick up Sugar, Fall suddenly felt queasy, but picked up her kit nonetheless and carried her to the nest.

Fall curled up into a ball, but found out she couldn't sleep. Sugar, however, could and fell asleep in a small ball and dozed off immediately. Fall laughed and gently picked up her sleeping daughter and dragged her closer towards her.

Later that day – two hours.

Fall blinked open her eyes slowly, surprised to find bright lights in her eyes as soon as she awoke. Fall had ended up falling asleep, not long after bringing Sugar next to her. Fall turned to see Sugar, and seen the kit was slowly waking up. Did Fall wake her up?

Fall looked over at Sugar, who stretched and let out a small yawn. Fall looked closer as her daughter had something messed up with her face. Sugar had her face screwed up, muscles around her eyes were twitching as her whiskers were straight out.

Fall instantly worried as she watched in horror, until her horror and fear were replaced by joy and hope. Sugar was trying to open her eyes! Fall remembered when she opened her eyes and flinched. She hoped her daughter didn't feel the same pain.

Sugar, despite Fall's hope, did feel the pain. Opening her eyes weren't a thing to be celebrating to her. For some reason, the day felt good and she wanted to see the world finally. Her face, especially around her eyes, were starting to burn and sting. Sugar could smell the overwhelming excitement from her mother coming in waves, so she continued to force her eyes open.

Fall tried to offer some encouraging words, but they didn't do anything for Sugar. Sugar felt the opposite of what Fall was aiming for, and stopped trying. _Tomorrow I'll open my eyes!_ The naive kit thought. Sugar smelled the air, looking for the disappointment coming from Fall. She didn't find it though, but the buzz was gone also.

Fall knew that Sugar would do it in her own time, just as she had, and accepted that. Sugar was a tad disconsolate though. In Sugar's mind, she imaged her mother with disappointment swirling in her eyes.

The next day.

Fall blinked open her eyes slowly, before letting them flutter open. She flinched from the harsh light, but her eyes slowly adjusted. She got up and heard a door slam shut. Susan's scent was all around, so that meant she left early. If Fall had been awake for a while, Fall would of shrugged to show her carelessness about it. Susan left early sometimes.

Fall woke up Sugar and was about to pick her up to carry her towards the food and water area, but decided Sugar should follow through scent. Fall told Sugar to follow her and flicked her tail, only walking a few steps in front of Sugar.

With a smile on her face, Fall slowly made her way towards the kitchen. Fall had her tail close to Sugar's face in case Sugar got lost. She didn't, but Sugar did stumble a lot and smell for her mother. Once the two reached the kitchen, Fall smelled the air. The scent of food smelled different, but not bad. It smelled better, in Fall's opinion.

After reaching the metal bowl, Fall realized that it/ wasn't the same stale, dry pellets that usually filled the bowl. It was squishy, and wet. When her owner's kin had visited the house, Susan usually gave Fall this kind of food. Fall loved it, so she was pleased to see Susan's kin.

Sugar, however, had never smelled it. She didn't seem to like the food, as her face was all screwed up and her ears flat as if it would stop the smell from entering her nose. Sugar was such a naive kit, it amused and worried Fall.

Fall, after finishing her food, whipped her head towards Sugar and gave a curt, playful smile. She then realized that Sugar couldn't see her so she gave a small laugh. It was music to Sugar's ears, prancing around in her ears.

Sugar, suddenly inspired to open her eyes, scrunched up her face and tried to move her eye muscles. It didn't work, but it also didn't hurt as much from earlier. She gave a small tug as her eyes opened wide. She closed them immediately, the sharp light had stung her eyes, burning them with the unexpected brigthtness.

When Sugar opened them again, slowly and hesitantly, small pools of sky blue were seen on the eight day old kit. Fall was looking away, looking for some yarn that Susan left around when her kin was over, but didn't see it.

Sugar let out a small squeak of surprise, mixed with joy. Fall whipped her head around, ears smacking the side of her face as she looked for what had scared or damaged her precious little Sugar. Fall was prepared to attack something, or whisper soothing words to Sugar. Fall even had her claws unsheathed, eyes narrowed with concern.

Last time Sugar squeaked, it was in the middle of the night and branches had been scarping on the windows and awoke Sugar. Sugar was scared for a few minutes until she fell asleep, slowly processing that she was safe. Of course, Sugar had no memory of this.

Fall looked around her daughter before looking directly at her, but when she did you could pretty much hear the "quiet" squeak of excitement coming from the fully grown adult cat.

Her eyes, previously haunted with concern filled to the brim with excitement and joy. Overjoyed, merry, and intoxicated with glee was just an example of the pure bliss Fall was feeling. Sugar wasn't even feeling that overwhelmed with joy!

Fall didn't even care that her daughter had blue eyes like her father, Chalk, instead of her dark green eyes. All that mattered was Sugar had her eyes open, and at that point in time, it was the biggest thing to happen to Fall sense giving birth to Sugar.

Sugar let her newly opened eyes widen in shock. Her mother was beautiful! She was mostly white, with a black tailtip, followed by orange and other colors on her tail Her back had a long orange spot with a black spot below it. Her front leg had a dash of orange on it also. Hr face was like a mask, one ear was black while the other orange. Fall had dark, lush green eyes that stuck out against her fur.

After looking at her mother, Sugar grew curious. What did she look like? Did she had the same beautiful green eyes as her mother? Sugar looked down, and seen white paws. She was a bit disappointed. She didn't look like her mother! Sugar wanted to look exactly like her.

Fall purred as she meowed something quietly to Sugar before walking out off, looking back at Sugar expectantly. Sugar followed slowly, looking around. The house was huge! At least, it was to Sugar.

The two were in a large room, with large counters that towered over Sugar. A stainless steal fridge planted neatly in the middle of the room, a microwave sat not far away. The floor hard, oak brown and had cracks here and there. The walls were stained white, painted a long time ago.

Once they got out of the kitchen, they entered a red carpeted room with walls that had flowers on it. A comfortable leather couch seated near the back. A large, black fireplace sat below a TV, and the fire was admitting orange flames that licked the warm air surrounding it. Sugar pointed a paw at it.

"Mommy? What's that?" Sugar managed to meow out her first words, a wide grin on her tilted head. Fall, not processing her daughter had spoke for the first time, followed Sugar's paw and found that she was pointing at the fireplace. Fall didn't know what the fireplace was called, but she knew it had fire in it.

"I don't know the name, but I know it has fire in it." Fall meowed slowly, her eyes staring into the blazing fire. She flinched away and looked at Sugar, who was looking at Fall with her head tilted still, curiosity still not quenched.

"Fire is bad, Sugar. Fire hurts cats, you should always stay away from fire" Fall stretched and yawned, despite not being tired. Sugar was content with her mother's answer, looked at her mother's tail. It was twitching and flying around everywhere.

Sugar let out a gleeful squeak as her unsuspecting mother put her head on her paws and closed her eyes next to the fireplace. Sugar also purred quietly. Her mother would be surprised for sure! Sugar crouched and slowly walked up to her mother's tail.

Fall did know Sugar was there, but she didn't bother. It was just a kit, and a kit should have time to play. _Sugar would be_ _especially_ _active today because she opened her eyes_ Fall reasoned.

Sugar, finally at her mother's tail, leaped at it. She caught it in between her paws, and she bent down and bit it playfully. Sugar looked up at her mother to see her reaction, but all she saw was that Fall was facing away and that her ears were perked.

Fall noticed that Sugar was seemingly distracted, and moved her tail out of her kit's grasp. Fall moved it just above Sugar, where she couldn't reach it, and waved her tail in front of the hyperactive kit.

Sugar went to desperate measures, as she stood on her two back paws, and batted at the tail. Still, to her displeasure, no avail. Sugar started to jump and bat at it, glee in her eyes. Fall lowered it a small bit, but Sugar still couldn't get it. Purring, Fall quickly moved her tail next to Sugar's face for a second. Sugar batted, and finally caught her mother's tail, but let go after a minute.

Fall put her tail up higher after her unsuccessful to tease her daughter, and waved it. She looked back and called to her daughter. "Higher!"

Sugar started panting, and for the last time, with all her remaining energy and effort, she caught her mother's twitching tail. Fall, surprised, yanked her tail back from her confused daughter. Fall leaned forward and licked her daughter on the head before congratulating her.

Sugar let out a yawn after panting for a moment, Fall yawned also. Fall protested about yawning, but now that she thought about it, she was tired after their playing session. They had an unspoken agreement as Fall picked up Sugar and carried her to the nest..

 **-I cut out the last part because it was unessential. If you must read it, though, here it is. Skip it over if you want**

 **Consider this not cannon of the fanfiction:**

The next day, Fall realized her owner had not returned. Fall shrugged, she wasn't very hungry anyway. Sugar was still sleeping, and Fall let her sleep in, only because she was very tired and didn't sleep very well last night. Fall padded back to the nest and stretched out next to her daughter. For the first time, Fall noticed her daughters long, fluffy tail. She purred, her daughter did get something from her.

Fall walked over to a box that was filled with toys and pulled the box, which was quite difficult, and brought it towards the nest. Fall then hopped onto the nest and started to lick her daughter. Sugar woke up and stuck her tongue out at her mother. Her mother soon finished licking her daughter. After letting her daughter drink, she showed her the box.

"Look in there, pull something out, and play with it. It's fun!" Fall meowed, and thought _It also lets me sleep in._ She looked at her daughter and realized that she was leaning over the box, a bit to far.

"Su-" Fall started to meow before her daughter fell into the box, her head popping up after a moment with her mouth open, a toy mouse in it already. She tilted the box and with a thud it landed on its side. She purred and trotted away, leaving her mother to put the toys back.

Chuckling, Fall picked up the toys one by one and put them back. Her stomach then grumbled and she knew what she had to do. She went to where her owner scooped the food into her bowl and got into the room, her owner never fully shut the door, and found the back. Stuffing her face into the small opening, she started to eat until she was no longer hungry. She, however, still had some water.

After going over to the bowl and dipping her head into the dish, she went back to see Sugar was chewing on the mouse. The room was illuminated by the small lamp her owner never turned off, and Sugar padded over to her mom, bored and slaughtered. Fall could share the same feelings. Fall suddenly got an idea. It was a risky move, to do as she planned. It would risk their health, but not life. She shrugged, it was the middle of summer, and it was nice out.

"I have an idea" Fall stated blankly. Though her meow was monotone, you could see in her eyes she was excited, and even a bit curious. Sugar would sometimes ask to do what she was about to do, but she would say she was to young. Sugar was still the same age as she was when she asked, but her eyes were still closed and that would give her a bigger chance of getting hurt.

"What is it?" Sugar asked, anything would be better than playing inside. She had already seen it all, and it was boring. Despite how young she was, Sugar was very adventurous, which was both bad and good.

"Do you-" Fall started, but Sugar had interrupted her. She was looking outside the window and pointing with her paw. Across the road, a house was very hot.

"What is that?" She was generally curious. Fall jumped up on the window sill along with Sugar and looked out. She knew it was fire, and fire was bad.

"Want to play mouse and cat?" The mom asked, changing her mind about going outside immediately.

"Yeah!" Sugar got down in a sloppy crouch and growled playfully, her tail flicking around. Whilst playing the game though, Fall was distracted. _A fire, and our owner is gone...Is this a sign?_ Fall shook her head, arguing with herself. _No, it's not a sign. Nobody would send us a sign, after all. You are just a plain old housecat._

 **I feel like I improved after rewriting this on 8/4/15 from the original copy. Message me if you want to compare the original to the rewrite.**


	2. Chapter 2

The owner of Fall and Sugar, Susan, had returned from wherever she was with no bad thing to have seemingly happened. She woke up and fell asleep at the normal times, fed Fall at the normal times, and she was perfectly normal. Fall and Sugar were completely happy at the thought. They did know, however, that Susan at one point was ill. They could smell it when they were around her, the scent of fading illness.

Of course, Sugar and Fall weren't worried. They knew that twolegs had good healers, because Fall went there when she broke her leg, and it got a lot better, despite still having a limp. They also knew it was going away, so it shouldn't bother Susan anymore anyway.

Sugar was starting to get desperate to get outside a week after the fire. There were no signs of the fire coming back, or the neighboring cats from that house, coming back. Sugar asked her mother every day if they could go outside, and every time Fall would cast her daughter a small, curt smile and shake her head no.

When Sugar asked why she couldn't go outside, her mother always told her she was to young. When Sugar complained to her mother that she was old enough, Fall would tell Sugar of the time she was about when she was the same age as Sugar, she went outside.

The story followed that Fall and her mother, Flower, had went outside and Flower crossed the road with Fall. The things that went on the road had almost ran over Fall, but Flower tossed her out of the way just as she got ran over. Despite Fall living, Flower didn't make it.

Sugar often thought of that story when she was bored, and she wondered to herself what she would do if Fall got hurt. She'd probably cry and try to wake up from her nightmare, only to figure out it was all real.

Sugar started to try to sneak around, so she could sneak outside when she was good at it. Instead of bouncing and hopping around, she walked slower and watched her steps. Instead of hiding in plain sight, she hid on white things that made her camouflage.

Sugar walked in a rhythm, left paw forward, right paw forward, left back paw forward, other paw forward. She practiced walking past her mother without getting noticed, but for the first part of the week, she failed. After that part, she was successfully walked past her mother.

The only real problem she had was her pink collar, it would rattle when she jumped, so she got her owner to cut it off when she started to annoy her with it by jumping up and down a lot. One problem solved. Sugar was around two and a half weeks old when she was about to execute her plan.

However, another problem arose the day of her plan. Fall was getting suspicious. Fall, despite not being able to scent how excited Sugar was, though she never tried, couldn't help but notice how Sugar was being sneaky. When she wasn't being sneaky, she was being cheery and happy.

Fall knew it was a good thing to have a happy kit, but some reason she felt it in her blood something bad was going to happen. Sugar, indeed a smart and sneaky kit, did not pay attention much. She didn't notice her mother watching with concerned eyes and hunched shoulders.

Fall didn't delve to deep into figuring out why Sugar was acting so suspisous, because Fall wasn't the brightest of her litter. Somehow, she had forgotten that Sugar always wanted to go outside, but suddenly stopped asking. So when Fall tried to fall asleep, she had already forgotten the situation she had on her paws.

Sugar took that as an opportunity, a risk. One that could possibly cause her to loose her life, but that's what life is about. What is life without taking risks, always following rules. Life is short, live it and take risks. Some risks are worth it, but some aren't. A risk, a chance.

Sugar lay down farther from her mother than what she normally did, but Fall didn't even notice. She thought Sugar was growing more and more independent every day, like her first batch of kits. They were independent from the second they started to walk. It was a warm night, so that could be another reason, Fall reasoned right before she fell asleep.

When it was dead silent in at midnight, Sugar looked up from her paws and seen her mother was curled up into a small ball and her flank was rising and falling slowly. Sugar held her tail stiff in the air so it would not wave in front of her mother and wake her up and ruin her entire plan.

Sugar got up and walked a few paces forward and stretched. She resisted the yawn that was building up in her throat. She then padded into the 'kitchen' and jumped up onto one of the 'counters' which was right next to the window.

She jumped up on the windowsill with a lot of effort and let out a sigh of relief that her mother didn't wake up when she almost knocked the flowerpot down. The window was still open, her owner always had it open, Sugar bunched up her little to no muscles to prepare to jump down.

She looked back and thought _I'll be back._ And she jumped into the new world of the outdoors.

 **Come join the Clan of Fading Shadows. Link on my profile!**

Also, sorry I haven't been updating this story, AND this chapter is so short! Reviews do motivate me to update, though. If you can, please leave a critique. Love the story, why? Hate it, why? What can I do to fix it? ~Moon


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as her paws hit the cold, wet, dark grass below her, her paws crumbled below her as she went crashing down. Her face planted in the dirty mud below and splattered along her fluffy, no longer clean pelt. She hopped up with wide eyes and ran from the pile of mud and shook her pelt, successfully getting off a bit.

The white kitten with a pink collar was not bothered much, at least yet, because it was her first time outside! She looked around and saw the rows of humans and the gardens. The one next to her had a black tom with a green collar on him, he was probably ten moons older than her mother.

Her eyes shined like a wild fire that could not be extinguished. It burned with awe as her surroundings shined in her eyes. She suddenly felt like she could do anything, go anywhere, be anything! She

She looked beyond the gardens and dens. She seen the large mountains towering over a forest and a large pond. It was the most beautiful thing she has seen, or possibly will ever see. She suddenly seen the glint of the full moon in the broken glass that was propped up against the wall.

That was when she looked up, and she was not disappointed. Her view was probably worth the mud all over her, and even getting trouble from her mom, if she did. The full moon illuminated all around her, the stars shining brightly nearby the moon. When she tried to count the stars, she failed, badly.

There was probably 1,000 stars out that night, and she couldn't count up to 50. All she knew was that it was beautiful, and she wanted to see the moon every night. Sure, Sugar had seen the moon and stars on rare occasions, when her mother let her stay up late, but it wasn't the same!

Her paws could not touch the wet, cold grass from the window, her mouth couldn't breathe in the warm smells, couldn't smell the freshness from outside from the window! Sugar wanted to be outside for the rest of her life, running and never stopping.

She'd run across the plains, the deserts, the forests, with her and a mate, with kits, and her mother! That was her current dream, but her reality was far from it. She snapped back from her thoughts and began to look around once more. She wanted to run around, but the mud, now drying onto her pelt, was keeping her from doing so.

She was growing tired, but this was an opportunity she couldn't miss, so she cleaned her pelt for an entire hour before getting up proudly, she had never had such a clean pelt. Then, she spat out the mud from her mouth before examining how large of a space she had to run.

The thoughts of freedom filled her head and soul, the crack of a smile showed until her wide grin was plastered across her entire face. She felt freedom, like she could explore the world without a care in the world, not like she could leave her nest without her mother.

She felt like she could scale the highest mountains, swim the fastest rivers, and chase the stars with a large smile and living her carefree life. She was sucked into her thoughts of being free so much that she barely snapped out of them when a shutting noise sounded behind her.

Sugar suddenly started running around, the wind in her pelt, even though there was little space to run. Her tongue was out and flopping all around, like a dog would run. She suddenly put her tongue back in at the thought of a dog, but she continued to run around.

The halted when her breathe was growing more ragged and she took some time to catch her breathe. While the time was short, she still enjoyed her burst of energy. She doubled over, which made it easier for her to gain her breathe back.

At first, she jumped up with fear until she turned back to see her only way in and out was closed. The only thing that really surprised her was that she wasn't scared, or even excited. In fact, it felt neutral, like a peace treaty from fear and excitement.

The only thing that would happen is that she'd sleep outside and when it was morning Susan would open the window eventually and she'd jump inside, and get in trouble from her mother. She'd eat and fall asleep, and that would be the end of it.

On the topic of eating, Sugar noticed that her mother was growing more and more hesitant to feed her, as if she was doing something wrong. Sugar didn't understand, but shook her head. After her thoughts had cleared from her head, she padded across the garden.

Once she was there, she jumped on the fallen tree that was not so far from the ground and stood still for a moment, trying to keep her balance, she found her way across the thin, almost branch, tree and jumped off from it to land on the white fence right next to it. Her paws barely caught the edge of the fence, however. Hanging off the edge, she pulled herself up, almost falling multiple times, before finally getting to the fence.

As soon as Sugar jumped up onto the white fence, she stared into nothingness. That was until the beautiful full moon captured her attention once more. From the fence, it pulled to her. It felt and looked so close that she could almost reach out and touch it, and hold it in her paws.

So, she did what any other naive kit would do, and she reached her paw out and tried to grasp the moon with her claws. Of course, she failed, but instead of just tucking her paw back next to her other one, her balance went unstable.

She topped over and, once again, face planted. Luckily for her, there was no mud where she landed this time. After picking herself up from the grass that was covered in dew, she realized her fur was wet now. Her mother would surely throw a fit, but Sugar didn't care. Shrugging, Sugar cautiously made her way forward until she found herself next to a road.

She then heard the roaring of something as she backed up as quickly as she could before something passed her with as much speed as she has seen her entire life. Another...thing passed, but this time it was blinking red and blue as loud...ringing noises went along with it.

 _What is going on?_

Authors note: Thank you, Willow! As of right now, I'm trying to show the personality of Sugar, as she is the main character (Obviously) Hopefully this does turn exciting.

ALSO, one more note. I will probably not be skipping time like moons (Usually, unless I have writers block) I like to make it so I can keep track of days and age and such) **Still accepting critiques!**


	4. Chapter 4

Finally, the black, large barking non-creature like made there way across the black path, continuously blinking with the two colors, Sugar was suddenly nonchalant about it. That was, until she remembered a story her mother told her only a week ago.

When her mother first told her story, she thought it was a lie. For an entire day, she pondered it, despite trying to practice her stealth. It suddenly dawned on her that her mother wasn't lying, but was trying to warn her the dangers of whatever the black path white a yellow stripe on spots of it was dangerous.

She remembered the story almost word for word as her mother told her about it. Flower, the mother of Fall and Baby, had wanted the two to meet their father, Sun. Fall described him as a golden tabby with white ears, and said she wished at the time to look like him.

She told Sugar that her sister, Baby, looked exactly like him, and she got jealous, but she didn't speak up. After Fall got back on topic of the story, she told her how Flower had already taken Baby across the path and was going back for her, because she didn't want to loose both of them if she happened to get stuck on the black path.

Flower had trotted back from the path after waiting for a gap in the group of "monsters" as she called it, she darted across the path and when she got back on the side with Fall on it, the monsters had cleared the area pretty much. After she picked up Fall and made her way to the start of the path, she seen Sun picking up Baby and bringing her into his garden.

Flower, suddenly very excited to see her mate, had rushed across the path. It was empty for as far as her small vision could see, but Flower made a very fatal mistake. As soon as she had made it into the middle of the black path, a roaring sound could be heard from a very close monster.

Flower ran even more, but her speed was no match for the silver monster that was in the middle of the black path. Flower then whipped her head one way with Fall still in her mouth, who had her eyes closed awaiting the pain before she died, and when Flower whipped her head forward again, she let her mouth open as she tossed Fall out of the way from the monster.

Fall then raced forward without looking back at her dead mother, half letting herself believe that her mother survived, the other knowing that she hadn't lived and was dead, crushed in the middle of the road. She raced over to the garden, who had Baby and Sun sitting and facing the nest.

The two didn't know about Flower until they turned back and looked at a now crying Fall. Baby leaned forward and put her nose to the cold nose of Fall. Baby didn't know why Fall was sad, but if she was sad than she deserved some comfort. Sun, however, was looking for the source of the crying until he felt a small pang in his stomach until he doubled over and started coughing.

Sun wasn't sick, in fact he was probably the most healthy cat in the neighborhood, but when he realized the source of the tears from a now curled up into a ball and still crying Fall, he had felt sick to his stomach. He raced over to Baby and Fall and started to lick his kits.

Baby turned to her father with confused eyes as his started to leak the same liquid as Fall. It was odd, from the perspective of Baby, to see her father, who she only knew for about five minutes, and her sister, who she knew her entire life, both crying.

Baby, her head tilted, could only come to one conclusion, but pushed it away. _Flower is fine, Flower is fine._ Baby put her head down as she continued to reassure herself, but couldn't bring herself to do it. _Flower is dead...Flower is dead...Mom is dead!_

All because of the black path, her mother was dead. Because she didn't want to loose both her kits on the path, she instead lost something almost as important as her kits for her. Flower had lost her life to save her kit, to save Fall. Flower was dead, and nothing could change that, even hoping and wishing.

Flower is dead. Sun and Fall stopped crying very hard, as Sun came to a realization. His mate, his true love, his everything, was in the middle of the path, dead in a puddle of her own crimson blood. She was crushed and mangled on the path, and he wasn't doing anything to retrieve her from it. _Maybe, just maybe, she was alive._ Hope flared within Sun as he left his kits and raced towards the road. He seen his mate, but to his luck, he seen her paw twitch. _Flower, I'm coming!_ Sun raced onto the road and gripped the body of his mate.

He dragged her onto the warm grass of his garden and let out a wail to awake his owner. He knew that they were sleeping, as they always slept late when there was empty glass bottles with only a little bit of red liquid at the bottom. The owned slowly opened the door, it's brown thing of fur on it's head all messed up and it was wearing a white tanktop and a small golden ring on it's hand.

It looked at Sun, to his kits, to his mate. It raced back inside and picked up something. It had a tan handle and a circular figure for the rest of it. **(A/N It's a bat)** It slowly walked outside, dragging it outside and it seemed to think something as it put it back inside and picked up Flower. It must of known she was alive as it held her gingerly.

She brought Flower inside and after a few moments of Flower being in the nest, you could hear heart breaking wails. Sun then knew that they didn't help his mate, they killed her.

 **You guys should come join the forum called Clan of Fading Shadows, I'm going to say this every chapter. It'll be fun to have you guys there. Link on my profile :D**


	5. Chapter 5

A minute past by like a few seconds as Sugar recalled the story until she snapped back to reality. It was the middle of the night, blinking monsters had passed, and she was about to cross a black path that had injured Flower, which made her mother sad.

Sugar looked forward deferentially. at the path, only moments after remembering the danger of it. Monsters still rushed past her, and her sensitive kit ears picked up the words Ready, Aim, Fi- and the roaring of the monster drowned it out as it got farther and farther away until it was just a dot.

Sugar slowly put her white paw on the path and a cooling sensation started at her paw and ended up at her tail. She shivered, it was cold but it also felt good. She withdrew her paw for a second, remembering she had to look across the path to go or she'd get crushed like Flower did.

After a minute, Sugar grew impatient of just sitting there, and started to claw the ground. Suddenly, a human kit screamed out of the monster loudly. "TEAM DIANITE!" followed by a "SHUT UP DANIEL!" and the monster was gone. What's a Dianite? And a Daniel? Sugar shook her head, she didn't care. Probably names anyway.

More monsters passed and another twoleg kit screamed out of the monster "GO JOIN THE FOURM CALLED CLAN OF FADING SHADOWS! MY NAME IS MOONF-" and once again, the monster was gone. Odd, odd creatures.

Nearby, where Sugar didn't cast her attention, a small light above changed from green to a mix between orange and yellow and then it turned into red only a moment later. She looked on both sides of the path and seen that there was no monsters.

Perfect! Sugar placed her two paws on the black, cold path and she soon put the other two down. Like the dumb kit she was, she ran across it with only the smallest bit of hesitation and fear. When she had finally gotten across and was on the other side of the path, she was panting from excitement.

Her back turned to the garden she just ran into, she looked at the path again as the monsters started roaring and crossing again. She turned to around what garden she was as she seen a large, pointy white fence surrounding her. Trimmed grass awaited her paws and even a dead mouse. Eww!

After inspecting the garden closer, she noticed a glint in the dark grass, along with crimson blood staining the glint. Of course, she didn't know that was glass, or that it was covered in blood. She looked onto the thing that connected to the twoleg nest and slowly walked onto it.

It also felt cool on her paws, but not as cold as the long, dewy grass was. It also felt...off. It felt like the balance was weighing down heavily, and Sugar didn't like it at all. She also noticed two metal rings that had some dry, oval shaped brown pellets in it. The other had a bit of water near the bottom, but it didn't look like it had been filled in the past week.

The garden didn't seem very different from hers, but she noticed one big difference. This garden had an actual garden. When Sugar was around two days old, she remembered a story her mother told her. Owners could plant food! Sure, it was a surprise to see it with her own eyes.

"And what do you think you're doing?" A snappy toms voice behind her called, jolting her out of her awe and even scaring her. Just a bit. Her fur was fluffed up, on her back, her now extremely fluffy tail, and even the top of her head. She slowly turned back to see a white cat with a pink paw behind her.

Sugar was extremely embarrassed as she shuffled her paws and her tail moved slowly on the ground. Along with shuffling her paws, they were shaking and her fur was on end, her ears flat against her head. That was until she clocked in that the tom had a PINK paw.

"What happened to your paw?!" Sugar exclaimed, eyes wide and her fur smoothing slowly. It wasn't natural to have a pink paw! The tom shuffled his paws, just like Sugar did earlier. He seemed to forget his hostility for the moment as he replied with a sigh.

"I stepped in a paint bucket" He admitted, though he looked like her was about to start laughing by the way he was breathing. He then remembered he was suppose to be intimidating as he took up an attacking stance, sharp claws unsheathed and teeth bared.

Sugar stood her ground, but her pupils were small and the light had drained out of her eyes as he slowly advanced, his growl growing louder and louder by the second. Frozen with fear, Sugar continued to stare with her blue eyes before he stopped crouching and got ready to run at her.

The moon was slowly falling down and the sun slowly floated up into the dark blue sky as the moon fell, just like they were enemies. When one fell, the other rose as high as it could before falling once more, it was a dangerous cycle. The sun and moon were strong, always getting back at the top eventually.

Sugar ran away, though she felt like she could fall over and cry until her mother came to save her from the cat, but no. Fall was nowhere in sight, so Sugar would have to be strong. Strong and fast to get away from the rabid house cat.

Sugar ran across the grass, her white paws getting a bit slowed down from the tall grass that hasn't been mowed in a year, and then she stepped on it. The glint she had seen earlier, the one stained crimson. As it entered her paw, blood imminently gushed out of it and stained her paw red and the glass even more.

Sugar stopped running and fell over as soon as she felt the pain, her face landing on the mud. She cringed and let out a yowl. W _hat was happening? What was it doing? How do I make it stop?_ _STOP!_ Sugar let tears stream down her face as two liquids left her body at the same time. Blood and tears were often found together after all. That was when Sugar fainted, or fell asleep, there was no way to be sure.

However, that momentary pain couldn't compare to the pain she'd have to face in the future.

 **Fun fact: This was originally chapter 3.**

 **I started writing this probably an hour after Chapter Four. I thought about making the extra long, but I decided I'd make every 10 chapters long. (Probably 5,000 words long, which is very long for me)**

 **PS: That forum is real. Go join it! :D Also, don't worry, the Clans will show up in a few chapters.**

 **Critiques still accepted! Also, if you want to be my beta go message me and I'll check you out.**


	6. Chapter 6

Sure, Sugar never fancied waking up in unfamiliar places, but that never stopped it from happening so often, especially when she was younger. Before Sugar had opened her brilliant blue eyes, her mother would carry her everywhere. Sure, Sugar didn't see it happening but it still smelled different and felt different. It stopped for the most part when Sugar opened her eyes though.

Fall was always a clingy mother, always checking up on Sugar, watching her closely, and sometimes even followed her around. Fall's excuse for this was that Sugar was her first and only kit, which Sugar guessed she understood. She didn't though, and she sometimes got annoyed.

However, the situation was completely different this time. Sugar wasn't a young kit that her mother still carried around, no. Sugar left her mother for a night and blacked out after stepping on the sharp glass she so carelessly ran over briskly. Sure, she was escaping, but that wasn't a valid excuse. She would of watched where her paws went.

When Sugar groggily awoke in a room that she had never been in, the first thing her nose picked up was a heavy scent in the air. It was so heavy, that you could cut it in half with a sharp knife. No, that wasn't a good example.

It was so heavy in the air, anybody, even a twoleg, could see it. If you turned it into salt, it would have the same amount of salt as the Dead Sea had. The reason it was the Dead Sea was because it was so salty, animals couldn't live there. It definitely wasn't as salty as Tucker though. Tucker didn't reside in the same world as Sugar did, so sh couldn't make that hilarious observation.

The scent was coming off one of the certain individuals that Sugar, a barely conscious, drowsy kit, could recognize immediately. Though it was probably because Sugar had only met two cats, one of which she didn't even know the name of.

Fall, Sugar's own mother stood next to Sugar's body, which was laying down on the hardwood floor like she was dead, which she obviously wasn't. Fall must have been seeing things, because was imagining Sugar's body laying down in front of her, mangled and crushed from a semi-truck. That was probably because Sugar had yet to open her eyes.

Sugar slowly gained her consciousness back over the next three silent minutes. Her eyes started to twitch as she didn't recognize the scent, which she could hardly smell due to her mother's scent of half joy and half worry, but also a small portion of anger.

To Sugar, it felt like she was the young kit she was, well, still is, trying to open her eyes for the first time again. It wasn't as hard. It defiantly didn't compare to explosive hot burning of her paw, or at least that's how she described it as, when the sharp, already blood stained glass slid it's way into her paw.

Sugar considered to stop trying and open her eyes again later like she did when she opened them for the first time, as they were weighing down heavily, but she shook her head mentally. She wasn't going to give up again. She had to be brave.

"Sugar! You're okay!" Fall yowled as soon as she seen Sugar's eyes were open and blinking furiously. It was so obvious of the blissful joy in Fall's yowl that it was almost painful. Almost. The first thing that Sugar noticed was that Fall's normally bright eyes were dulled a tad with worry. Though they were starting to light up slowly like normal.

"I'm fine" Sugar coughed and meowed quietly, trying to get up off the floor. It was uncomfortable, sprawled against the cold floor. Sugar didn't fully remember what happened last night.

"I know, Sugar. I know. It….It looked like you were in pain though. Are you sure you're okay?" Fall meowed, worry lacing her tone as she looked down at a pink stained paw. Not as bright like the weird tom's paw, but from blood that didn't get cleaned yet.

"It hurts still...Not as much...What time is it?" Sugar admitted and then asked. After remembering that her paw had hurt from the night before, it started to throb a small bit and she winced. Sugar slowly tried to stand up again, but when she put her paw on the ground it hurt and she dropped.

Fall, seeing this, picked up her daughter by the scruff gently before setting her down. Sugar stood on three paws, refusing to step on the throbbing paw and the burn slowly faded, though an itch took its place.

Her decision lead to her stumbling around, once into Fall, who watched with a solemn face. She seemed to be thinking _This is Sugar's fault, not my problem._ Though, if you looked into her eyes, you could see worry there. Fall didn't answer Sugar's question though, as she had already forgotten

Sugar lifted her paw, after sitting down to avoid falling on her face, and checked to see if the pointy glass was still lodged in her paw. It wasn't, luckily for her, so she put down her paw quickly. Despite having no glass in there, it had a lasting affect. She winced and unsheathed her recently sheathed small claws from the sting before sheathing them once the pain passed for the most part.

The pain, passed in the earlier few seconds, had ceased and Sugar felt much happier. Then Sugar looked at calico mother's green eyes with her own confused blue eyes, sending an unspoken question. Fall understood immediately and pondered the question, though she already knew the answer.

"Where did the thingy go?" Sugar asked in a sweet and innocent voice. She didn't know her mother understood the unspoken message, so she asked it as she looked up at her mother. It took Fall a minute to respond, but she eventually did without a lie.

"The thingy? You mean the glass?" Fall let out a small laugh before leaning down and licking her daughter between her perked ears. "Susan tried to get it out for a while, but then she took you to the vet." Fall suddenly realized her own words and she leaned back from cleaning her eyes.

You could see Fall's green eyes were haunted until she noticed Sugar was staring up with wide eyes and Fall shut then. Sugar didn't need to know what the Vet did. When Fall opened her eyes again, they were bright. She was blocking out the horror of what they did to her father.

Sugar's ears went flat against her head as she wondered why her mom was scared. Her mother's eyes portrayed the rightful horror that most cats had felt at even the mention of the Vet. Sugar took note immediately of the horror, and would keep it forever.

If Sugar went to the Vet, and her mother was worried, then why did sh e let her go? And why did they help if they were mean? Sugar didn't know, as that brought more questions in her overwhelmed brain.

"Are you mad at me?" Sugar asked suddenly, not realizing what kind of trouble she was bringing herself into. Sugar tilted her head as her mother processed the question. Fall had already forgotten that Sugar broke her rules and forgot to give her a punishment. Until now, that is.

Fall's eyes went from being bright and cheerful to narrowed slits. Her ears went from perked to hear what her daughter said to folded back behind her head. Instead of her soft answer that Sugar was looking for, a surprisingly low growl formed within Fall's throat. Fall advanced towards her still confused daughter and snapped.

"I'm upset, Sugar! You know you can't leave the den without me, especially in the middle of the night!"

Sugar squeaked as she realized what was going down and her mother was rushing forward at a surprising speed. With only half of the speed of her mother, Sugar turned around and ran forward. Despite it being only half the speed, it was twice the effort. It didn't last long though. Fall was already behind her daughter within a few seconds and Fall bent down and picked up her daughter by the scruff.

That escalated quickly.

Sugar became suddenly more aware of her surrounds, she already knew she was in a room she'd never been in, but she didn't expect it to be Susan's room. Sugar had never been in there, because Fall thought she'd get hurt. Sugar might of admired the tan room with paintings on it if she wasn't being carried like a newborn kit by the scruff.

Sugar closed her eyes after she let out a sharp squeak when her mother made a sharp turn without warning her kit. Sugar's head bobbed as her mother padded out of Susan's room and made her way into the main room, tail flicking behind her quickly and angrily. Her ears were still folded back.

Sugar found herself within moments to be in the nest she found so familiar. The small nest that her and her mother shared and slept in. Sugar sheepishly opened her eyes and looked into her mothers, still slitted and narrowed, eyes.

Fall faltered and softened as the two made eye contact, though. She was still angry, but it wouldn't last much longer.

"Sorry Sugar, but you know better than doing that" Fall apologized, also giving an explanation. Sugar didn't notice the flash of anger as Fall continued. "You'll do the same when you have kits"

"Eww!" Sugar meowed in displeasure, her tongue sticking out of her mouth to signify this further. Fall laughed and licked her daughter's head once more.

"I thought the same thing, Sugar. One day you'll met a great tom, you'll settle down with him and have some kits. Just like with me and Chalk.." Fall stopped for a moment before her sad face turned solemn again. "You'll visit me, right Sugar?"

"Of course!" Sugar squeaked, her eyes wide with confusion. Why wouldn't she visit her mom? Sure, she wouldn't have kits, but she'd still visit! At least, that's what she thought. She was far from being right though.

Sugar nuzzled into her mom's fluffy fur and purred quietly. "I love you mom" Fall purred and started to clean her daughter.


End file.
